Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Guinea and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing The Misunderstood to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Crispy Ambulance. All the underground hits.
All Nik Kershaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kurtis Blow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Jeff Mills,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pantytec,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Michelle Simonal,
Steve Hackett,
The Seeds,
Soft Machine,
The Durutti Column,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Litter,
The Residents,
Tres Demented,
Amazonics,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Soul II Soul,
Can,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Aural Exciters,
Dorothy Ashby,
Heaven 17,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Erasure,
Sonic Youth,
Fela Kuti,
Albert Ayler,
The Gun Club,
New York Dolls,
Mark Hollis,
Fluxion,
Half Japanese,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Throbbing Gristle,
Jerry's Kids,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Blossom Toes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Hoover,
Lou Christie,
Matthew Halsall,
Colin Newman,
The Barracudas,
Yazoo,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Barrington Levy,
John Holt,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Angry Samoans,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Gap Band,
Fugazi,
Radiohead,
Grandmaster Flash,
Alice Coltrane,
Panda Bear,
Nils Olav,
Unwound,
Henry Cow,
The Move,
Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.